1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improvement in audio-visual teaching devices. More specifically, this invention relates to audio-visual teaching devices utilizing opaque, Hollerith-type cards including a magnetic strip for recording audio information thereon. This invention relates to improvements in the information card and in the illumination system designed for displaying the information contained on the card.
2. Description of the Prior Art
During many years of teaching experience, this inventor has contacted on a professional basis many students who have not been able to read adequately. These students appear to be intelligent from informal observations of their activities, their interactions with peer groups, their conversations, and their group discussions. However, there seems to be some type of blockage between their sensory perceptions and the linkage of the signals to the brain. This blockage may be either physical or psychological, but in any event it must be overcome.
The prior art contains many examples of presently available teaching devices which utilize the standard forms of stimulation to the tactile, visual and auditory senses to promote the learning process. However, even when these teaching devices are utilized in attempting to teach new information to these reading disadvantaged children, the rate in which the children absorb the information is still below the apparent potential of each of the students.
The clearest example of the prior art audio-visual teaching apparatus is the LANGUAGE MASTER (Trademark) developed and marketed by the Bell and Howell Company of Chicago, Ill. Various elements of this system are disclosed by Kral in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,712,973 and 3,760,164 as well as the disclosures of Pietenpol in U.S. Pat. No. 3,821,519 and Lorbergs in U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,896. MacChesney in U.S. Pat. No. 2,603,006 discloses audio-visual teaching aid of a type which is very similar to the LANGUAGE MASTER. The present invention relates to an improvement which may be adapted for use with either of these previously discussed teaching systems.
Other inventors have likewise sought to improve upon the teaching capacity of the prior art inventions. Butler, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,547, discloses the use of a dual track magnetic strip attached to the card for allowing the student to compare his pronunciation of the word with the accepted pronunciation. Sakuma, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,263, discloses a teaching aid employing a first card and a second overlay card which are both transported back and forth in a transverse manner before the eyes of the student. While the Sakuma teaching aid employs both audio and visual teaching stimuli, the apparatus apparently does not provide back illumination of the major area of the cards, nor does it allow the student to select the color of stimulus most suited to his personal needs.
Allain in U.S. Pat. No. 3,823,492 discloses a teaching aid utilizing a plurality of color-coded card groups, color-coded progress charts and color-coded tests for organizing the vocabulary education of young students. This system does not include any audio reinforcement of the visual information, nor does it include any illumination features.
Day, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,139, discloses an electronic audio-visual teaching system which utilizes reels of magnetic tape for storing electronic signals representative of the visual material to be displayed to the student. This system apparently does not include any audible stimulation or color stimulation to enhance the rate of learning.
Sampson in U.S. Pat. No. 2,985,069 discloses an apparatus for projecting slides in sequence accompanied by appropriate audio subject matter. Shields in U.S. Pat. No. 2,975,672 discloses a system for combining the audio information reproduced from a magnetic tape recorder with the visual information reproduced by a film projector. Neither of these systems provide means for the students to change the color of illumination used to display the visual information.
Hicks, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,822,425, discloses an educational book having magnetically encoded sound strips arranged along the edge of the pages thereof and a manually traversed reproduction system for decoding the signals on the magnetic strip. Chernowitz, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,208, discloses a teaching card having both visual printed material and a plurality of magnetically coded strips thereon. A manual magnetic reproducer is provided for allowing the student to decode the audio information recorded on the magnetic strips. MacChesney, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,849,542, discloses an apparatus for the magnetic recording of sound information on teaching cards.
Bender, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,185,776, discloses a teaching aid employing an overhead projector for projecting large transparent slides which include magnetically encoded strips along one edge thereof. The slides are fixed in position with respect to the illumination and projection sub-systems, and a moveable magnetic reproduction head is transported on an extendable arm over the length of the magnetic strip. While this system utilizes a rear projection technique for displaying the visual information, a magnetically encoded strip, and a magnetic reproducer for displaying the audio information, this system does not include optical filtering or other functionally equivilant sub-systems for allowing the viewer or student to vary the display color of the visual information in order to increase the impact of the learning process.